Extractor tab

ABSTRACT

Identifiable fastening means is provided on each arming wire of an air-to-surface weapon and a unique extractor tab is substituted for the arming wire swivel loop at the weaponaircraft interface. The tab fits into the usual slot of an arming solenoid and is contoured to provide increased mechanical advantage as the angle of pull on the arming wire increases.

United States Patent 1191 Koff et al.

[ Jan. 23, 1973 EXTRACTOR TAB [75] Inventors: Irwin Kofi; Ronald D. New; Samuel P. Holladay, all of China Lake, Calif.

[73] Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy [22] Filed: April 5, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 131,201

[52] U.S. Cl. ..89/l.5 D, 102/2 [51] Int. Cl. ..B64d 1/04 [58] Field of Search ..89/1.5, 1.5 D; 102/812, 2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Semenoff .89/1.5 D

3,158,060 11/1964 Semenoffet a1 ..s9/1.s 1) 3,326,083 6/1967 Johnson ..89/l.5 D 3,200,707 8/1965 West ..89/1.5 D 3,366,008 H1968 Grandy ..89/1.5 D 3,575,084 4/1971 Glendening ..s9/1.5 1)

Primary Examiner-Samuel W. Engle AttorneyR. S. Sciascia, Roy Miller and Gerald F. Baker [57] ABSTRACT Identifiable fastening means is provided on each arming wire of an air-to-surface weapon and a unique extractor tab is substituted for the arming wire swivel loop at the weapon-aircraft interface. The tab fits into the usual slot of an arming solenoid and is contoured to provide increased mechanical advantage as the angle of pull on the arming wire increases.

2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH23 1975 3,712,169

sum 1 0F 3 FIG. 1.

INVENTORS.

IRWIN KOF'F RONALD D. NEW SAMUEL P HOLLADAY BY ROY MILLER ATTORNEY. GERALD E BAKER AGENT PAIENTEnJAnz 197a SHEET 2 [IF 3 FIG. 2b.

FIG. 5.

PAIENTEflmzs x915 SHEET 3 OF 3 FIG. 40. FIG. 4b.

(PRIOR ART) EXTRACTOR TAB BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Previous arming wire systems used an arming wire with a swivel loop formed of steel wire with inside dimensions measuring approximately X 1 inch. The loop was normally inserted into a solenoid housing slot past a spring loaded conical detent or plunger. Pulling the loop from an unenergized solenoid at angles greater than about three degrees often resulted in the loop staying down within the solenoid housing slot or looping over and hanging up on a portion of the solenoid housing. The other end of the attachment wire was looped around the arming wire assembly consisting of a steel wire within a Teflon sheath. Each arming wire assembly was identical and unidentifiable when placing the extractor wire thereon.

According to the present invention the swivel loop has been replaced with an extractor tab of carbon or stainless steel, for example, processed to a hardness of about R 35 and advantageously given a protective coating of Teflon. Additionally, each point of attachment on each arming wire is provided with a pair of attachment loops having tactile and visual identification features.

With this invention, it is possible to hook ordnance arming wires to their respective operating solenoids with repeatable accuracy even in the dark. The flat steel tab does not bind or hang up in the solenoid even when receiving pulls from the largest angles encountered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the midportion of a typical weapon or the like rigged for aircraft launch;

FIG. 2a is a pull ring configuration useable with the rigging of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2b is a modified ring pull;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a typical release solenoid;

FIG. 4a is an enlarged view of the improved pull tab and lanyard configuration;

FIG. 4b is an enlarged view of a prior use configuration; and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view taken along line 5 5 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As shown in FIG. 1, a weapon for aircraft delivery may comprise a plurality of arming wire systems 12, 12'. Each arming wire device may contain one or more arming wires such as 14, 14', 14". Typically an arming wire such as 14 will be encased in a shroud or fairing l6 and will be connected to weapon body 10 by a screw 18 through the looped end 20 of the wire. The other end of the wire is usually removably inserted into a mechanism on the weapon to hold the mechanism in a safe or restricted position.

In the system shown in FIG. 1, a number of cuts 15 have been made along the fairing or shroud 16 to allow for the attachment of a lanyard 13 by which the arming wire'l4 may be pulled free of the shroud.

Prior to the present invention, most lanyards were attached to the arming wire by simply looping the lanyard over the wire as shown in the system 12. The other end of lanyard 13, better shown in FIG. 4b, comprised a simple wire loop 21 which was swiveled to the other end 17. The loop 21 was designed to be inserted into a solenoid actuator (see FIGS. 3 and 5) attached to the aircraft. With more than one arming wire system, and each arming wire system having a plurality of openings 15, the chances of connecting the lanyard in an incorrect manner or to the wrong actuating solenoid became great. Furthermore, the large loop 21 tended to become entangled with a portion of the solenoid resulting in erroneous operation.

According to the present invention each arming wire 14', 14" in system 12' is equipped at each station 15 with a wire loop arrangement either according to FIG. 2a or according to FIG. 2b. The loops 31, 33 in each of the loop configurations is the same but the loops 27, 29 are different. The loop systems associated with arming wire 14' at each station 15 comprises a large triangular ring 29 while each loop system associated with arming wire 14 comprises a large oval ring 27. This arrangement enables an ordnance worker to place the lanyard loop properly even in the dark.

As previously stated, the loop 21 of lanyard 13 proved to be unsatisfactory in many ways and according to the present invention, it has been replaced by a triangular flat piece 30 as shown in FIG. 4a attached to a lanyard 22 with its loop 35. The flat tab 30 fits into the solenoid 40 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Extraction of the tab 30 from slot 44 in the solenoid 40 is reliable even under angular positions as shown by the angle of lanyard 22 in FIG. 5.

In operation, each lanyard, after attachment to a particular arming wire, is then inserted in a slot 44 of a particular solenoid 40 on the aircraft. Each solenoid (FIGS. 3 and 5) comprises a coil housing 46 and a base member 42. The coil housing 46 houses a coil 52 and a metal plunger 50. In housing 42 there is a plunger 48 having a slot 57 and being biased by a spring 58. Solenoid plunger 50 carries a pin 56 which is designed to enter slot 57 in the plunger 48 when current is applied to the coil 52 by closing switch 54 as shown in FIG. 5. When the solenoid arrangement is in the position shown in FIG. 5 the lanyard 22 will break before the tab 30 can be removed from slot 44. If desired, however, the plunger 50 may be biased to the position shown in FIG. 5 and require closure of switch 54 to remove pin 56 from slot 57.

With the present invention it is a simple matter to identify a particular arming wire by the shape of the extractor ring (either triangular or oval) attached thereto. In FIG. 1 for example the armament worker charged with hooking up the lanyard 24 is simply told to hook it to the forward station of the arming wire with the triangular extractor ring whereas the armament worker charged with hooking up lanyard 22 is told to hook it up to the aft station of the arming wire with the oval extractor ring. The shape of extractor tab 30 as shown in FIG. 4a, for example, is a configuration which increases the mechanical advantage as the angle of pull is increased as shown in FIG. 3.

What is claimed is:

1. In an air-to-surface weapon system including weapon carried arming wires and aircraft carried solenoid fastening means, arming wire extraction means comprising:

identifiable attachment means on each arming wire;

said lanyard means comprising a length of cable hav-- ing a small loop at one end and a larger loop at the other end and a flat triangular extraction tab fastened to said small loop;

said extraction tab having a small hole at one apex for attachment to said small loop and a larger hole approximately equidistant from the sides thereof for engagement with said solenoid.

2. Lanyard means for use in an air-to-surface weapon 5 delivery system comprising:

a length of stranded cable having a small loop at one end and a larger loop at the other end; and

a flat triangular tab fastened to the small loop;

said tab having a centrally located hole of sufficient size to receive the actuating pin of a release solenoid in the system and the side of the tab opposite the attachment to said loop being beveled for ease of insertion into a release solenoid. 

1. In an air-to-surface weapon system including weapon carried arming wires and aircraft carried solenoid fastening means, arming wire extraction means comprising: identifiable attachment means on each arming wire; lanyard means connected between said identifiable means an aircraft solenoid fastening means; each said identifiable attachment means on any one arming wire being identical and distinctively different from the shape of the attachment means on other arming wires of the same system; said identifiable attachment means comprising large and small interlocking wire rings and said large rings being formed in easily identifiable geometric shapes; said lanyard means comprising a length of cable having a small loop at one end and a larger loop at the other end and a flat triangular extraction tab fastened to said small loop; said extraction tab having a small hole at one apex for attachment to said small loop and a larger hole approximately equidistant from the sides thereof for engagement with said solenoid.
 2. Lanyard means for use in an air-to-surface weapon delivery system comprising: a length of stranded cable having a small loop at one end and a larger loop at the other end; and a flat triangular tab fastened to the small loop; said tab having a centrally located hole of sufficient size to receive the actuating pin of a release solenoid in the system and the side of the tab opposite the attachment to said loop being beveled for ease of insertion into a release solenoid. 